Howland Mariann A, Reid Brie M, Donzella Bonny, Gunnar Megan R
Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota- Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Department of Psychology and Department of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.
Neurotoxicol Teratol. 2025 Jan-Feb;107:107420. doi: 10.1016/j.ntt.2024.107420. Epub 2024 Dec 11.
Evolutionary-developmental theories propose that early adverse experiences adaptively shift the timing (i.e., onset) and tempo (i.e., rate) of pubertal maturation. Empirical evidence of links between early life adversity and pubertal maturation is mixed, potentially in part because isolating the unique impacts of early environments is challenging. The current accelerated longitudinal study used a quasi-experimental design to examine pubertal maturation among 132 previously-institutionalized (PI), internationally adopted children who experienced a time-limited form of severe early life adversity, compared to 169 non-adopted (NA) children. Based on prior literature, we also assessed whether pubertal timing and/or tempo are pathways by which early adversity relates to later symptoms of psychopathology. At each of three annual sessions, Tanner pubertal staging was determined by nurse exam, and symptoms of psychopathology were captured in a composite of child self-reported internalizing and parent-reported externalizing symptoms. Findings revealed that, only among children at Tanner pubertal stages 3 or below, PI children were more likely to have reached stage 3 compared to NA children, reflective of earlier pubertal timing. No group differences were found for pubertal tempo. In the subsample of children at Tanner stage 3 or lower, earlier pubertal timing was an indirect pathway by which early adversity related to both higher levels and greater longitudinal declines in internalizing and externalizing symptoms of psychopathology, accounting for a small proportion of the total effect of early adversity on psychopathology. Results from this quasi-experimental study add to existing research on associations between early adversity, early pubertal timing, and psychopathology, further suggesting that links may be specific to timing but not tempo. While findings broadly align with recent calls to consider early pubertal maturation as a transdiagnostic risk marker with utility for identifying children who could benefit from early mental health intervention, they also suggest that pubertal timing is unlikely to be a robust target for reducing psychopathology risk in these children.
进化发展理论提出，早期不良经历会适应性地改变青春期成熟的时间（即开始时间）和节奏（即速度）。早期生活逆境与青春期成熟之间联系的实证证据不一，这可能部分是因为分离早期环境的独特影响具有挑战性。当前这项加速纵向研究采用了准实验设计，以检验132名曾在机构中生活过（PI）、经历过一种限时形式的严重早期生活逆境的国际收养儿童的青春期成熟情况，并与169名非收养（NA）儿童进行比较。基于先前的文献，我们还评估了青春期时间和/或节奏是否是早期逆境与后期精神病理学症状相关的途径。在每年的三次会议中的每一次会议上，由护士检查确定坦纳青春期分期，并通过儿童自我报告的内化症状和家长报告的外化症状的综合指标来获取精神病理学症状。研究结果显示，仅在坦纳青春期3期或以下的儿童中，与NA儿童相比，PI儿童更有可能达到3期，这反映了更早的青春期时间。在青春期节奏方面未发现组间差异。在坦纳3期或更低期的儿童亚样本中，更早的青春期时间是早期逆境与精神病理学内化和外化症状的更高水平及更大纵向下降相关的间接途径，占早期逆境对精神病理学总影响的一小部分。这项准实验研究的结果补充了关于早期逆境、青春期早熟和精神病理学之间关联的现有研究，进一步表明这种关联可能特定于时间而非节奏。虽然研究结果大致符合最近将青春期早熟视为一种具有跨诊断风险标记的呼吁，这种标记有助于识别可能从早期心理健康干预中受益的儿童，但它们也表明，青春期时间不太可能成为降低这些儿童精神病理学风险的有力目标。
